# Alicia Silverstone's baby eats like a bird . . . literally.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 28, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041 "2012-03-28T15:02:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/21 "2012-03-28T16:55:10Z")
“Bear Blu” sounds like what I would name a hamster.
This reminds me of that SNL sketch with Julia Marguiles - her date’s (adult) brother can’t chew his own food so his family chews it up and spits it in his mouth for him. You know when something is so gross you’re falling off your couch laughing?
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/22 "2012-03-28T16:57:52Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#):
>
> “Bear Blu” sounds like what I would name a hamster.
I am never going to be able to look at \*your \*name the same after this thread, either!
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/23 "2012-03-28T17:02:10Z")
When the family goes out to eat, I bet their favorite restaurant is Pre-Chew Charlie’s.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/24 "2012-03-28T17:06:23Z")
> [@Maastricht](#):
>
> I don’t see the problem. It is an respected tradition in low-tech countries. Many anthopologists say that is even how french kissing originated.
Yeah… that factoid actually kinda makes it worse.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/25 "2012-03-28T17:08:07Z")
I thought that this practice was common knowledge. OK, so maybe it’s not common any more in our culture, but it’s hardly bizarre. So someone chooses to be a little old-fashioned in how they do something. Big deal.
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/26 "2012-03-28T17:08:56Z")
“I buy a dozen cars when I’m in the mood
I hire somebody to chew my food
I’m a upwardly-mobile dude
This is the life!”
– ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, _This Is the Life_
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/27 "2012-03-28T17:13:17Z")
I remember reading something within the last few months that this practice has a positive effect on the child’s immune system, which is probably why she adopted it.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/28 "2012-03-28T17:13:34Z")
> [@Maastricht](#):
>
> I don’t see the problem. It is an respected tradition in low-tech countries. Many anthopologists say that is even how french kissing originated.
>
> I have done it myself when I was out with my baby and we ran out of baby food. All I had were dry crackers. I chew the crackers, and gave my baby a pat of it on my fingers in his mouth. No problem, happy baby instead of fussy hungry baby.
Ah, but see … you used your fingers to give baby a pat of cracker-mush, rather than drooling it directly into their mouths.
Yeah, yeah, it’s traditional in some low-tech parts of the world, and this is how we used to do it as cavemen. So? If everyone subscribed to that theory, we wouldn’t have made progress, like inventing the wheel, air-conditioning and teh interwebz. Just because somethings been done a certain way in the past doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/29 "2012-03-28T17:15:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> ISo someone chooses to be a little old-fashioned in how they do something. Big deal.
I just wish she were a little _more_ old-fashioned, so I wouldn’t have seen a goddamned video of it on the Internet.
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### Author:  [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/30 "2012-03-28T17:22:55Z")
> [@Maastricht](#):
>
> It is an respected tradition in low-tech countries.
Yes, but unfortunately, it’s also a big part of why hepatitis B is so prevalent in many countries. Many diseases can be spread this way, including [HIV](http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/45918/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__Pre-chewed_baby_food_can_spread_HIV). It strikes me that promoting the practice on her healthy-living website is… ill-considered.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/31 "2012-03-28T17:27:55Z")
OMG, this is Alicia Silverstone we’re talking about. I would so totally eat her chewed food.
FWIW, I have a parrot, and when he stands on my shoulder he does always try to stick his beak in my mouth. It seems to be hard-wired behavior in birds.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/32 "2012-03-28T17:28:52Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Instead of laughing at this poor girl and her baby, maybe we could all chip in and get her the help she needs.
Sadly, there is still no cure for being one of an ill-informed, in-your-face health nut douchefont.
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/33 "2012-03-28T17:29:34Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> She lives in Los Angeles.
We have much to learn from them.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/34 "2012-03-28T17:31:13Z")
> [@Maastricht](#):
>
> I don’t see the problem. It is an respected tradition in low-tech countries.
The test here is to give these people a couple cases of Gerbers and see if they continue the chew 'n spit routine. If they go for the jarred stuff, maybe they weren’t too thrilled with the pre-chewing either.
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### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/35 "2012-03-28T19:37:56Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> The test here is to give these people a couple cases of Gerbers and see if they continue the chew 'n spit routine. If they go for the jarred stuff, maybe they weren’t too thrilled with the pre-chewing either.
You got me there, bud. Even the most remote African village household already has its own microwave ovens, built out of straw and mud, powered by a cow electical treadmill, and for the water used for the added washing up they just have to dig the well a couple yards deeper, and for silverware…uh-oh. They don’t have the extra silverware. Sorry.
But seriously, the sad part is you are right. Ever heard of the [Nestle boycott](http://voices.yahoo.com/nestles-aggressive-marketing-kills-babies-third-879327.html)? The TLDR version is: parents in poor countries want what is western, because that is better; they buy powdered Nestle milk instead of breastfeeding baby the oldfashioned way; they use dirty water or make the expensive formula too thin; 4000 babies die each day.
> [@](#):
>
> UNICEF has stated that it is a proven fact that 4,000 babies die each day in developing nations because they are not breastfed. It has also been estimated by the World Health Organization that around 1.5 million babies are dying each year because of the marketing practices of some companies.
Actually, I think what Silverstone does is some much needed PR for a good cause. Remember the hubbub about Selma Hayek breastfeeding another baby then her own?
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### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/36 "2012-03-28T19:39:02Z")
Geez. When my last kid was born and ready for solids, I was totally _over_ blowing money on jarred baby food. I bought a few for travel or unspecified emergencies, which he wouldn’t eat. Otherwise I just mashed what could be mashed and fed that to him. People are way too whacked out on what to feed babies. Although I do admit to the whacked-outedness with my first.
I remember reading about this years ago; the example pre-chewing people were Russian peasants. I still don’t get why the need to pre-chew. Babies can go for a heck of a long time on nursing alone and chew pretty darn well with just their gums anyway.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/37 "2012-03-28T20:00:19Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> OMG, this is Alicia Silverstone we’re talking about. I would so totally eat her chewed food.
Yeah, why are the hot ones always nuts?
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### Author:  [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/38 "2012-03-28T20:31:04Z")
How very… Ferengi of her. I wonder what other customs she observes…
Enjoy,
Steven
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/39 "2012-03-28T20:36:35Z")
That kid looks kind of demonic with the really red cheeks and weird eyes.
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alicia-silverstones-baby-eats-like-a-bird-literally/617041/40 "2012-03-28T21:27:06Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> Ah, but see … you used your fingers to give baby a pat of cracker-mush, rather than drooling it directly into their mouths.
>
> Yeah, yeah, it’s traditional in some low-tech parts of the world, and this is how we used to do it as cavemen. So? If everyone subscribed to that theory, we wouldn’t have made progress, like inventing the wheel, air-conditioning and teh interwebz. Just because somethings been done a certain way in the past doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way.
Oddly, the old-fashioned way may indeed be the better way in this case. I’ve been seeing reports that allergy researchers think that pre-mastication may prevent kids from developing food allergies, by introducing all those lovely enzymes or something. I don’t know much about it really, but it’s an interesting hypothesis.
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